The Oilman Becomes Secretary of State

The votes against Mr. Tillerson’s confirmation were the most in Senate history for a secretary of state, a reflection of Democratic unease with President Trump’s early foreign policy pronouncements that threaten to upend a multilateral approach that has guided United States presidents since World War II.

A bigger problem will be his relationship with the department he now heads. The State Department and the oil industry represent two different approaches to interfacing with the world around us, and the two don’t exactly admire each other. OTOH I think he will be a steadying influence on the President, who respects his negotiating skills.

One thing he will need to tackle is the vetting process for visas. In addition to figuring out who is dangerous and who is not, it has been frightfully slow. An Iranian friend of mine had his wife and newborn (American citizen) go back to Iran; it took eighteen months to get a return visa. The intervention of our congressman and senator (Bob Corker, chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee) were to no avail. And this was under the last administration.